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Comment by bryanlarsen | Hacker News Reader

His objections are about low speed manoeuvring: backing up, navigating a yard, handing over papers, et cetera.

"Furthermore, I can't see around trucks in front of me without pulling halfway into another lane."

Elon claimed in his speech that is was easier to see all 4 corners in his semi than competitors, so it's obviously something they're thinking about.

Honda thought t was a good idea to replace volume knobs with capacitive touch strips.

People hated it so much they’ve had to add the knobs back.

A car maker ‘thinking about something’ doesn’t mean the solution will be good. There are tons of infotainment systems to serve as counterexamples.

And let’s not forget GM’s ‘easier’ gear shift that caused people to get run over because you couldn’t tell if it was in park.

Skepticism is always warranted for new things, but also remember this is the guy who made EVs viable and cool and luxurious, as well as they guy who made reusable rockets a thing, to put it mildly. Elon Musk has a brilliant mind for solving engineering problems that others think are too daunting to even approach. "Seeing around corners" is something fairly simple, especially when you consider Tesla vehicles have myriad sensors for detecting objects/vehicles on the road, even through other vehicles. Teslas can stop when the car ahead of them stops--surely they can provide a driver with a (near) real-time view of where cars are in another lane, ahead and behind the vehicle.

but then look at the gull wing doors! I think at this point we can only wait and see.

That would actually be the monostable ZF shifter used in some FCA cars.

You’re right. Wrong brand. It was also FCA who made the weird dial shifter a few years ago that was confishong to use and easy to confuse with the volume knob too?

I had ‘fun’ driving a Chrysler 200 with one of those.

not sure how that's relevant to seeing down the road around the truck in front of you.

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